


The Silence of the Storm

by DisneyGeekWriter



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/M, Mermaids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 18:51:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 22,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5977450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisneyGeekWriter/pseuds/DisneyGeekWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna is a common mermaid who longs to know more about the world above her. Every twilight she sits on an outcropping of rocks near the quaint fishing village of Arendelle. Kris, a deaf fisherman has no one left after his elderly parents passed away a year ago. His only companion is his dog Sven. Fate steps in and the pair are entwined. True love can take many forms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay so this is based on Mermaid prompts from minnothebunny and xx-insatiable-xx on Tumblr. Descriptions of the mermaids based on art by lissa-42, also on Tumblr. There was also a request of a deaf/hard of hearing story so I am going to be combining the two. For the purposes of this story Anna is the mermaid. She has the power to bring in the tides and the storms. Kristoff is a marine biologist on the hunt for a mythical creature that can bring about storms. Kristoff is the deaf one in this story. Sven is his Hearing-Ear dog and Olaf is his research partner and interpreter. Many of the deaf AU's I've seen have Anna as the impaired on but I thought it would be cooler to give it to Kristoff. For the purposes of this story, whenever someone close to Kris (as he's called in this one) it is safe assume that they are speaking in sign.**

**Anna is a common mermaid who longs to** **know more about the world above her. Every twilight she sits on an outcropping of rocks near the quaint fishing village of Arendelle. Kris, a deaf fisherman has no one left after his elderly parents passed away a year ago. His only companion is his dog Sven. Fate steps in and the pair are entwined.**

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 1: Kris Bjorgman

 _Bulda's Folly_  chugged out to the open sea. Its captain Kristoff or Kris as he had been lovingly called by his parents, sat at the helm, guiding the old boat to where he thought the fish might be. It had only been a year since his parents had passed on, leaving him the old boat that was held together by duct tape and prayer and the cottage on the cove. His only companion, his dalmatian Sven lay at his feet, snoring slightly. The dog had been a gift from his mother Bulda to help Kris with his disability. Kris was deaf, thanks to a nasty bout of meningitis when he was a toddler. As a special needs foster child he spent most of his life in group homes. The elderly couple Captain Pabbie Bjorgman (his real name no one knew anymore) and his wife Bulda saw ten year old Kris as their chance to have a child and Kris's chance to be part of a family. Captain (that's what everyone called Pabbie) and Bulda made sure they could communicate with Kris and gave him all the love he had been deprived of for his whole life. Sven, was just another part of that love. The pair grew up together. Captain and Bulda took Kris to their friends who raised dalmatians and let the boy pick out the one he wanted. The dog learned quickly that Kris was special and would come to certain signs that Kris used and was protective almost to a fault.

Kris missed his parents deeply. They had been everything to him. Captain taught him everything he knew about the sea. Out on the water was the only place that Kris didn't feel like he was different. When he was swimming, he was his most peaceful. Everything under the water was just like him, void of sound. As a young man, Kris was very tall and broad. He wasn't made to be a fisherman, Bulda knew that. But Kris loved the sea. He loved being out on the water. He got his build from rowing. When he came to live with Captain and Bulda he was a very angry child. Bullied for his size and disability he had a lot of aggression. Captain and few of his friends helped Kris build a rowboat so he could use that to take out his aggression. Most days as soon as the bus dropped him off at home, Kris would take Sven and they would jump in the boat and row until got dark. Captain bought him a small outboard motor in case he got stuck and needed a way to get home. He and Bulda never told him he couldn't something just because he was deaf. They told him that he could do whatever he wanted and they would always love him.

 _Bulda's Folly_  sputtered and died, black smoke billowing from the engine. Kris and Captain had built and rebuilt the engine for  _Bulda's Folly_ for years. He hoped it would be an easy fix and he wouldn't have to code in for a tow from Jack, the tugboat guy. Kris struggled to speak and even with his hearing aids he couldn't always make out the garbled words coming from the radio so he would use Morse Code. Many of the old timers who had known Captain, would intercept Kris's radio calls and relay them for him. He kept a large supply of flares and emergency rations in the cabin just in case. The radio on the boat was the newest thing in it. Bulda made sure that no matter what, her son had a way to contact the world.

Kris opened the engine hatch and saw the issue. The gasket blew. There would be no fixing it here. He closed the hatch and went to the radio and tapped out a distress call. Marie, the dispatcher at the cannery heard the call and relayed the message out to Jack to go tow in Bulda's Boy. Bulda's Boy. Thats what the old timers called Kris. It gave him a sense of belonging and he never minded it.

"Jack's coming to get you, Bulda's Boy. Sit tight," Marie said into the radio. She knew he might not understand him but she radioed him anyway. Bulda and Captain always made sure no one ever treated Kris any differently because of his disability. She also taps out the message, which triggers a lamp by the radio that helps translate the message for Kris. While he has a phone that is enabled for only FaceTime and texting, the signal doesn't go as far as he needs it at times. So Morse Code and a network of people keep Kris safe. Just as Captain and Bulda wanted it.

While waiting for Jack and his tugboat, Kris picked up his binoculars and watched the horizon for signs of any sea life. Off in the distance he saw a humpback breach the surface. A flock of birds were following a school of fish. Closer to his favorite place along the cove he calls home a pair of seals are basking in the sun. Something purple flashes in the fading light of the day and Kris focuses the binoculars on the something purple. He's seen it before. Mostly just at twilight as he's running Sven along the beach. He always sees it at twilight, just as the sun is sinking down into the horizon. Captain always said there were strange and wonderful creatures living in the sea and sometimes they let us see them. Kris wondered if this was such a creature.

The chugging of another boat and the blowing of the horn caused Sven to jump up and paw at Kris's leg. It was in Sven's training to alert Kris to noises and alerts. The dog knew the difference between a knock on the door and the smoke alarm. Jack, the tugboat guy, threw a line to Sven and he caught it in his mouth and drug it over to Kris who tied the line to his boat.

"What blew this time?" Jack asked, in sign. Most of Captain and Bulda's close friends learned to communicate with the boy when they first adopted him so he'd always feel a part of the community at large.

"The gasket," Kris said. "Hopefully I can fix it at the dock."

"Might be time to retire the old girl and get a new boat," Jack said, attaching a few more tow lines to the boat.

"With what money?"

"True. Come on kid, let's get you boys home." Far from a kid, Kris was nearly twenty-six, but to the community of Arendelle, he was still Bulda's Boy.

Kris looked back at the rocks, knowing it was too late to try to come back. Maybe it was just his eyes playing tricks on him but he swore there was something else there. Something special. Something that would end his isolation forever.


	2. Anna, A Lonely Girl

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 2: Anna, A Lonely Girl

She was always alone. She loved the cove and watching the fisherman come and go on their boats. Many were kind and only took what they needed while others were greedy and awful. But the good outweighed the awful and for that she was thankful. Anna, a mermaid, sat along the rocks of the cove watching the tugboat go out to bring in a stranded boat. The boat  _Bulda's Folly_  was captained by a very tall, broad and handsome young man. The other fisherman in Arendelle called him Kris or Bulda's Boy. She called him Kris. She doesn't understand why he doesn't talk like the others. She's been watching him for weeks, trying to catch his gaze. His brown eyes follow her as she retreats to her cavern below the cove when the night falls. Many of her people had left the protection of the cove when the waters cooled. Anna stayed because she didn't have anyone else. Her only friend was a small albino sea turtle she had rescued from a storm many months ago. She called him Marshmallow.

The midsummer sun was retreating into the sea. This was her favorite part of the day. She loved watching the stars come out and dance across the sky. She named the stars herself, unsure of their real names. When the night finally settled in she dove under the water and down to her cavern. Her cavern was over an underwater geyser that helped to keep her warm. The northern waters were cool and for some merpeople it was too cold so they traveled south to warmer waters. But Anna liked the north and the creatures that lived there. She looked over the human things she had collected from the cove. Mostly things that had sunk from people's boats. At night when the cove was quiet and calm she would swim up to the Bjorgmans dock and watch for Kris. He was fascinating to her and one of these days she would let him see her and talk with him.

Anna spent her days looking for other merpeople, hoping she wasn't the only one left in the northern waters. She and Marshmallow would follow ships out into the sea. She has some magic, but not as much as other merpeople. Her magic allows her keep warm in the cold waters of the north. Some had magic to change their form to be human for a few hours. Anna wished she had that magic so she could go up to Kris's door and introduce herself.

A few twilights after she watched his boat be towed to shore she saw the oars of his rowboat heading towards the mouth of the cove. He was headed to the rocks, his favorite place to think and watch for sea creatures. Sven slumbers peacefully in the boat while Kris explored the rocks and the reef. He had his diving mask and snorkel and dove into the water and explored the reef. Under the water Kris felt the most at home. There everything had order and balance. He swam below to the caverns. Anna hid behind a rock, watching him. It was now or never. She pushed off the rock and swam in front of him. He froze, shocked and amazed. She held out her hand for his and without another thought he took it. Together they swam to the surface.

Kris pulled off his mask tossing it on the rocks and climbed out of the water. He stared down at the girl in the water. Where did she come from? Who was she? He began to sign and his hands moved so fast Anna couldn't understand. She shook her head. "I don't understand."

He slows down, pointing to himself and setting his right hand in a K shape over his heart. He does it again, hoping she'll figure it out. "Kris, I know your name."

He looks at her puzzled. He signs his name again, hoping she'll figure it out. He takes her hand in his, forming the letter with her fingers of her right hand and places it on her heart. "Oh, Kris," she said, the sign sinking in. "You're Kris." She pointed to him and signs his name again. He nodded, a grin growing on his face. He pointed to her. "Oh me? Umm…" She pulls herself out of the water and wets the sand collecting on the rocks. She traced the letters of her name in the sand. "Anna. I'm Anna."

"Ah-na," he said, making the sounds he couldn't hear.

"Yes Anna," she said, smiling. She watched his hand circle his face and place a fist at his heart. He pointed to her and made the sign again. She mimicked him. He held his hand up and went over to his boat and pulled out a small case, a notebook and pencil. He opened the case and put two small devices into his ears. He quickly wrote down something on the page and showed it to Anna.

"Beautiful Anna? No I'm not," she said, blushing. He bobbed his wrist up and down, giving her a strange look. She points to herself makes the sign for beautiful and shakes her head. Kris catches her chin in hand making her look into his brown eyes.

"Yes you are," he struggles to say. "My Beautiful Ah-na."

She placed a finger to his lips. "You don't have to try to talk for me," she said. "I know it's hard for you."

He nodded, tapping the paper. "Where did you come from?" he asked, signing the words on the paper. She points down below the waterline.

"My cavern is below the rocks here," she said. "I can show you, if you want?"

Kris nodded, taking out his hearing aids and placing them back in the case. She offered her hand to him and he took it cannonballing into the dark water. He adjusted his mask and the small air tank he always had when he was just exploring and not fully scubaing. He held his hand out for her and together they dove under the surface to explore the reef together.


	3. Fixing Bulda's Folly...Again

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 3: Fixing  _Bulda's Folly_ Again

Kris cried out throwing a wrench across the dock. The metal scraped along the wood and with a plop, sank to the bottom of the cove. Kris rubbed his temples in annoyance and prepared to jump into the cove to search for missing wrench. The changing of the gaskets in  _Bulda's Folly_ had been slow going. If he didn't get out there and bring in some herring, he'd starve when the winter months came. Captain and Bulda's estate didn't leave him with a lot to begin with and his disability checks from the government made sure and Sven made the tax payments on the house and boat and kept them in food. But his fishing trips made him a bit more money that he uses to keep his boat in working order. He peeled off the white tank top, pulled off his boots and socks and was preparing to dive into the cove when Anna surfaced, holding the missing item.

"Did you lose something?" she asked, holding out the wrench to him. They have spent every night since they met together. They met at the mouth of the cove and they would dive and explore together. He started bringing his scuba gear so they could stay together longer. She preferred to stay out of sight during the day so he left her the old sign language books that Bulda and Captain purchased to help them learn to communicate with their son. She would sit on the rocks out of sight from the other fishermen and read the books and practice the signs. With nothing else to do but help Marshmallow find his family, she was a quick study.

"What are you doing here?" Kris asked, sitting down on the dock, rolling his pants up to let his feet rest in the water.

"I wanted to see you," Anna signs, smiling at him. In the light of the early afternoon, Kris could see Anna clearly. She had greenish-purple scales that covered most of her upper body, stopping at her breasts, covering them modestly. Her tail, was glittering in the sunlight. Her fins had several iridescent branches and she told him it helps her swim. "I missed you."

"Anna," he signed her name. He dropped into the water and took her small frame into his large embrace. There was something about her that he couldn't put his finger on it. But for now he would do what he could to spend time with her. He ran his fingers through her reddish gold hair, taking in her expressive blue eyes. Anna was the first girl he had ever been serious about and the only girl who took him seriously. Arendelle was a small town with not a lot of people his own age residing there. The schools were a thirty minute drive inland and the kids at the inland school didn't really like the beach kids. So even at school, Kris was alone.

Sven started barking and Kris let go of Anna and she ducked below the dock behind the pylon. Jack and Marie from the cannery were walking up the dock. "Kris? What are you doing?" Marie asked. Having been Bulda's best friend, the older woman had learned sign along with Bulda, she was just as fluent in sign.

"I dropped a wrench," Kris said, pulling himself out of the water. "Can't afford to lose Captain's tools."

"Brought you some scrap parts from the yard," Jack said, offering his hand to the young man. Kris shook his head and pulled himself out of the water as he's too heavy for the old man to pull out.

"Thanks," Kris said, sitting on the dock. His large legs hiding Anna.

Marie sets a wooden box of supplies and foodstuff on the dock. She promised Bulda before she passed that she would always look out for her boy. Most of the time she found the box back on her porch. Stubborn boy was her other name for him. "Don't you dare bring this back," Marie said, giving Kris the "Mom Look."

"Yes ma'am," Kris said standing up. He was always grateful for Jack and Marie. Jack taught him mechanics that even Captain hadn't known. Marie came with him when he had checkups with his ENT and was his emergency contact.

"I hate that you're out here all by yourself," Marie said. "Why don't you and Sven come to the mainland for the winter? You can have the basement. I'll keep you fed."

"Thank you Marie," Kris said. "But I couldn't impose like that."

"Well this should get you through the month."

"Need some help with the  _Folly_?" Jack asked.

"I think I've got it handled, but thank you anyway."

Anna looked beyond the pylon, watching Jack and Marie leave. Her Kris had people who looked out for him. It was sweet and she knew it made it harder for him to spend time with her. How do you explain Anna? She was a mermaid, neither fish nor human. She could live underwater and breathe air. She could read and write like the humans and understand the songs of humpback whales. Where does a girl like that belong? She came out of her hiding place and placed her arms on the dock watching Kris. Every muscle in his back exposed as he moved to pick up the boxes of spare parts and food. He was the biggest human she had ever seen. Kris was over six feet tall. His shoulders were chiseled and his waist narrow, leading to a well toned backside. His chest was free of hair and his hair was a golden blonde. He reminded her of the Viking warriors she had read about in abandoned book she found in the Northern Waters.

She had no concept of countries or the human names for the seas. In her world there was the Northern Waters, the Southern Waters. North meant cold and South meant warm. Her kind preferred the warmer waters and only came North a few times in their lives. Anna as a small child had been separated from her family when she had followed the song of a humpback. She was lost and stayed in the North in hopes that they would come back for her.

"Anna?" Kris signed, knocking on the wooden deck, getting her attention. "Are there anymore of your kind here?"

"No," she says, shaking her head. "I'm all alone."

Kris knew about being all alone. He was abandoned as a baby, got very sick and lost all ability to hear without the assistance of hearing aids. No one wanted a kid who couldn't hear. They wanted the perfect child. It wasn't until Captain and Bulda told him he was going to come live with them forever that he finally felt like he belonged. He belonged here by the sea, with his dog and now with Anna.

For the rest of the day and well into the evening Anna watched Kris as he worked on repairing his boat. She tried to help him as best she could. She handed him parts, caught tools before they fell into the cove. But mostly she watched the way he moved. So focused on his task. Sven, taking a liking to Anna, received plenty of belly rubs and ear scratches. She threw his rope bone, albeit not very well but ever the happy dog, he chased it and brought it back to her. In the distance she can hear the song of a humpback. A radar device on Kris's boat pick up the song and shows it on the display. He noticed the distant look on Anna's face.

"That's Kali," she said, finger-spelling out the name. "She's looking for Rama, her mate. They have a calf, a girl Taani."

"What is their song like?" Kris asked, joining her on the dock. "What does it make you feel?"

"Kali's songs are always for Rama," Anna said. "They're about love and longing. They have been separated for a long time."

Anna talked about the whales' songs and what they meant to her. She told him the differences between Kali's songs and those of the calf Taani. Taani's songs were playful and full of joy. Kali's at times could be so sad that they break Anna's heart. "They are so majestic, Kris," Anna said. "When the  _Folly_ is running again, I'll take you to see them."

Kris grinned and nodded enthusiastically. A grin on his face that Anna wouldn't soon forget.

 


	4. The Humpbacks

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 4: The Humpbacks

It took two weeks for the part for  _Bulda's Folly_ to come in and another week before Kris could get the boat running again. Jack came over to help Kris and Marie brought him dinner. Kris was an abysmal chef and if it wasn't for microwave dinners and the freezer meals Marie made for him, he'd probably starve. But he could grill up a fresh salmon no problem. Being out of work for almost a month was going to hurt him when winter came. He looked at the calendar on his wall. He had to bring in at least three hundred pounds a day for the next month or it'd would be a very long winter. Winters in the north were harsh and cold. Now that he knew Anna, he worried about her. How had she survived these harsh winters all these years? He had an old claw foot tub in the house that she could stay in. He'd like having her close to him.

Jack and Kris clapped each other on the back when the  _Folly_ roared to life. Now Kris could make some money and go diving with the whales and Anna. With Jack and Marie around a lot more Anna had to stay hidden. She missed getting to sign with Kris, playing with Sven. She watched them from the rocks, wishing for the day when he could introduce her to them.

Early the next morning, he loaded up his scuba gear and whistled for Sven. The dog ran down the dock and jumped into the boat, heading straight for his bed under the steering column. Kris started the boat and it chugged slowly out to sea. Anna was going to meet them about ten miles out. She said early mornings were the best time to try and see Kali and Taani. Rama was still missing and Anna said Kali's songs were becoming more mournful and sad. It made Anna cry and that was something Kris never wanted to see. He wanted to be the one to wipe away the tears.

He stopped the boat about ten miles out from his dock and dropped the anchor. There was no sign of Anna and he knew she would be there soon. He pulled on his wetsuit and flippers. He was checking the valves on when something, namely someone, splashed him. He let out a garbled cry and stood up.

Anna pushed herself onto the back of the boat, letting her tail hang in the water. She grinned at him, her golden red hair in two long braids. "I had to get your attention somehow."

"So you splash me?" Kris teased.

"It worked, did it not?"

"Yes, it did."

"Well, come on. They'll be ready to start feeding soon."

She pushes herself off the back of the boat and into the water. About twenty feet or so off the port side of  _Bulda's Folly_ , Kali surfaced and let out a breath. Kris froze, it was the closest he'd ever been to a humpback. As a child Captain and Bulda took him whale watching but he only got to see the whales and seals from a distance. This would be the first time he might be able to touch one. He put on his air tank, pulled his mask down over his face and sat on the edge of his boat and fell backwards into the sea. He popped his ears and saw Anna swimming in front of him.

"You look funny," Anna signed to him.

"Ha ha," he replied. They swam out hand in hand towards the whales. Kali was under the water swimming close to Taani. The calf was curious of the two divers. She swam close to Kris, bumping her nose into him. He was pushed back by the force of her bump. Anna gave the young whale a stern look and to Kris it looked like she was speaking to the young whale. Taani swam back towards Kris and stopped in front of him and nuzzled his chest, almost apologetically. Kris placed his gloved hands on her face, feeling the bumps and knots on her skin. He could barely contain his excitement. This was the best day of his life, second only to when Captain and Bulda told him the adoption was approved. Taani let him swim under her, running his hands along her belly. He saw Kali, she was about forty-five feet long and had to weigh at least fifty thousand pounds. The whales seemed so at ease with Anna, almost if she was one of them.

They stayed with the whales for almost an hour. In that time, Kris watched them breach and play above the water. Kris wished he was on the surface taking pictures. Bulda loved calendars of wildlife and when Captain would take her out on the boat she loved snapping photos of the wildlife along the coast. The North Pacific waters were ripe with humpbacks in the early summers into the late fall. The walls of the cottage were covered in photos of Kris with Captain fishing, Bulda and Kris walking along the beach. Bulda wanted to make the small cottage feel like the best home Kris would ever have. She treated him as if she'd had him his whole life and not just for fifteen years.

Kali and Taani moved on about ten minutes later. Kris made his slow decent towards the surface. He had to go slow as to not get the bends aka decompression sickness. The first time he went diving after becoming certified he came up too fast and got very sick. He had to be taken to the mainland for treatment and Bulda swore she was going to lose him. After that he was super cautious about the amount of time he spent coming to the surface and made sure to get plenty of rest and water after a long dive. He climbed onto the boat and shrugged off his air tank and took off the mask. A grin was on his face that he was sure he wouldn't lose for days. Anna joined him on the platform.

"Thank you, Anna," Kris said. "That was amazing."

"I'm glad I could share it with you, Kris."

"Anna." He stared at her with his dark brown eyes drinking in her bright blue ones. He caressed her cheek in his gloved hand. She pulled it off, wanting to feel his hand. "I want to kiss you."

She nodded, leaning into him, their lips pressing together softly. His hands travel into her hair holding her, Kris deepening the kiss. He pulls her into his lap, her glimmering tail reflecting the light. She wrapped her arms around him, never wanting to let go. She whispered into his ear, knowing he couldn't hear her. "I love you, Kris."

 


	5. Unexpected Confessions

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 5: Unexpected Confessions

The cold came to the cove faster than Kris thought it would. The punishing winds of the north Pacific battered against the windows of the cottage. He feared for Anna under the sea. The waves were rough and angry pouring into the cove. Anna had shown him her cavern and it didn't provide her much protection. He hadn't found the courage to ask her if she would like to come stay in the house in his tub. He worried about her being out there all alone.

Even with her magic to keep herself warm, Anna knew this early cold would surely kill her if she didn't go south with Kali and Taani. But she had Kris to think about too. He would be so heartbroken if she left. She knew she would be. She had told him she loved him, even though he didn't know it. Maybe it would be better if she did leave for the winter and come back in the summer. If she just left and didn't look back. It wasn't like they had a bright future together. She was a mermaid and he was human. There's no way Jack or Marie would understand. There was none of her kind that had the magic to help her. Not that she knew of. She was the only of her kind in these waters.

* * *

 

Miles south two merpeople were fighting the current north. A blonde woman called Elsa and a red haired man called Hans were following leads years in the making. They were searching for Anna. Their little sister had been missing for most of her life and Elsa had refused to give up on her. Elsa felt guilty because the young Anna had gotten lost on her watch. Her penance was now to spend the last fifteen years searching the whole of the seas for the sister she lost.

"Why would she stay in the Northern Waters?" Elsa bemoaned. "Those waters are treacherous and cold. Why wouldn't she come south?"

"Maybe she didn't know she was supposed to," Hans said. "She was so young maybe she thought staying where she was would make it easier to find her."

"For fifteen years? I'm afraid that I'm just getting my hopes up of ever finding her."

"This lead we got is coming from a pod of orcas who claim to have seen a young mermaid off the San Juan Islands, whatever those are. The orcas said we're no more than a hundred miles from where she was last seen."

* * *

 

Anna breached the surface just under the dock. It was the safest place to surface as it was far enough away from the cottage so if Jack or Marie were there they wouldn't see her. The water was getting colder and she wasn't able to keep herself warm much longer. She had to say goodbye to Kris so she could go with Kali and Taani to the warmer Southern Waters. She hated to leave him but she had to leave to keep from freezing to death. She loved him enough to leave him. She and Sven had a bond that allowed the dalmatian to know when she was near. She swam as close to the cottage as she could so she could toss pebbles at the window to get the dog's attention.

Sven hearing the clinking of the pebbles on the window he pawed at Kris who was seated at the kitchen table going over his accounts and finances hoping to make the meager amount last the winter. The fishing had been poor and the repairs he had to make to the  _Folly_  took a chunk out of his savings. If he was careful, he'd make the amount last. At least with Marie cooking for him, he wouldn't starve. Sven pawed at him and moved towards the front door. Annoyed, Kris holds out his hand in front of Sven, their sign for enough. Sven wasn't having it. It was Anna. Sven growled and pulled on the hem of Kris's pants.

"What has gotten into you, you crazy mutt?" Kris said, standing up and going to the window. He pulled aside the curtains and saw Anna crawling up the beach towards the house. While she can breathe air, she can't get too dry. "Anna."

He threw open the door and ran down the beach. "What are you doing? Anna, you're like ice." He gathered her into his large arms, cradling her small frame like she's a child. He carried her into the cottage and sat with her on the small couch, warming her skin. "Anna, what are you doing out of the water? You could die."

"I had to see you one more time," Anna said, looking into his eyes. "If stay here this winter, I will die. The water has grown too cold for me. I have to go south with Kali and Taani."

"I don't want you to leave. I can build you something to stay in."

"Kris I belong in the sea," she said, tracing his jaw with her hand.

"You belong here with me," he replied, tucking her drying hair out of her face. "I can take care of you."

"Kris, no," she signed. "I can't ask you to do that. How would you explain a mermaid?"

"I don't care that you're a mermaid, Anna. I love you!"

"What did you say?" Anna gasped.

"Anna, I love you. Please don't leave me too." He kissed her, hard, with so much passion she felt the heat fill her cold body. A light shone from inside her and she felt a pain like she had never felt before. Her tail shone with the most light and when it vanished, the sight before them was quite a shock. Where her tail used to be was two slim, beautiful legs.

 


	6. Anna, A Nice Girl from....?

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 6: Anna, A Nice Girl From…?

"I have…I'm…" Anna stammered, not signing.

"Legs," Kristoff said, using his voice.

"What are we going to do now?" Anna asked.

"I don't know, my love," Kris said.

The first thing he needed to do was cover her naked body. As beautiful as it was, it had to be covered in case of unexpected visitors. There wasn't much of anything of Bulda's left that would fit Anna. While Anna was lithe and airy, Bulda was ground and solid. Two Anna's would fit in what remained of Bulda's clothes. His shirts and pants would be too large for her too. But it would have to do until he could think of something. He covered her with a blanket and went to his room and took down a flannel shirt. It was long enough to be a dress for her but it was the best he had. He found a small belt of Bulda's and brought the items out to her.

"It's not much, but it'll help until I can get you more clothes."

"It's from you so it's perfect," Anna said. "Thank you."

She stood up, letting the blanket fall from around her shoulders. She was a sight to behold. Her long red hair hung lose, soft curls forming around her face. Her breasts, while he had seen them many times, they were uncovered from the scales that used to cover them. Soft and pink, supple and beautiful. He helped her into his shirt and did the buttons for her, his large fingers clumsy and shaking. He wound the belt around her waist. She took a small step forward, losing her balance and falling to Kris's loving arms.

"I'm going to have to practice," Anna said, holding onto the collar of Kris's shirt.

"Or I could just carry you," Kris said, scooping her up into his arms. Sven whines and pawing at Kris. Kris looked over his shoulder at the window to see Jack and Marie's truck coming around the bend. "Stay in my room, please Anna. I have to make them go back and we'll figure everything else out."

"Are you ashamed of me?"

"God, what? No, Anna. I love you but they're not going to understand where you came from. Please, Anna. I promise this will be the only time I ever hide you from them." He kissed her again, leading her into his room. "Anna, I love you."

While she understood, she didn't like it. All her life she had to remain hidden and now, with him, she didn't want to be a secret anymore. Kris shut the door to his room just as Marie opened the door to the cottage. She greeted Sven warmly.

"Hey Sven," Marie said, scratching the dog behind his ear. "Where's your buddy? Kris?" Marie flipped the switch several times on the overhead light, a signal for Kris to know someone else was in the house.

"Hi Aunt Marie," he said, coming into the living room.

"What did you do?" Marie asked, giving Kris the up and down Mom Look.

"What does that mean?" Kris asked.

"You only call me Aunt Marie when you've done something you don't want us to find out about. So spill it."

"There's nothing to spill. Did you come over for a reason?"

"We saw a flash of light and were worried about you."

"I just blew a light bulb, that's all."

Marie looked around the room and noticed the blanket and the stack of wood in the fireplace. "Kristoff Adam Bjorgman, is there a girl here?"

Kris froze. She knew. Marie had known him since Bulda and Captain brought him here. "Where am I going to meet a girl, Marie?"

"Maybe you've caught yourself a mermaid," Marie teased. "Who is she?"

"No one. I don't have a girl here."

"I have known you since you were ten years old, Kristoff. You can't lie to me."

Anna carefully cracked open the door to Kris's room. She didn't want to get him into trouble but he told her to stay in his room. He saved her and she was going to repay him. Getting her balance she opened the door and stepped out. Marie's back was to his door and she came out around to Kris.

"And who are you?"

"Ah-na," Kris said, using his voice. "My girlfriend."

"I knew it!" Marie said, in sign. "It's nice to meet you."

"Anna isn't deaf, Marie," Kris said.

"Oh that's sweet. How did you meet?"

"On the beach," Kris answered quickly. "She was on a humpback watching tour."

"How long have you been seeing each other?"

"About two months now," Anna said, speaking and signing for Kris. "I just knew there was something special about him. I didn't care that he was deaf. In fact, I didn't even know at first."

Anna wasn't lying. She didn't know there was anything wrong with Kris when she first saw him. She thought he was just a human who didn't talk much. She still doesn't think there was anything wrong or broken about Kris. She loved him just as he was. Marie looked at the young couple. Anna seemed so small next to the large Kris. She looked very young too. Kris was twenty-six. Anna looked no more than eighteen maybe twenty.

"How old are you Anna?" Marie asked.

"I'm nineteen," Anna said, even though she wasn't sure. Years were hard to follow under the sea. Having been alone for a long time she wasn't sure how long she had been in the Northern Waters but nineteen seemed right.

"Marie, what's with all the questions?" Kris asked, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"I don't mean anything by them Kristoff," Marie said. "This is the first girl you've ever brought home and I'm sure Bulda would be pestering you with the same questions."

"Well stop," Kris said. "Please."

"You should come over for dinner tonight," Marie said. "Jack got some fresh halibut."

Anna tried to hide the horrified expression on her face. Being a sea creature herself, there is no way she would eat fish. "Anna's a vegetarian Marie. You know, this is her first time on the island, I was thinking about showing her around. Maybe another time?"

"Jack isn't going to believe this. Not at all," Marie said. "I'll bring you some salad fixings, Anna. I'm really glad to meet you."

"You too Marie," Anna said with a bright smile. Marie patted her cheek in that lovingly grandma way. She gave a stern look and point to Kris. She walked out of the house and out to her truck, digging for her phone.

"The entire island is going to know about you in five minutes," Kris said, sitting down on the couch.

"Is that a bad thing?" Anna asked, walking very carefully towards him. He held out his hands for her to brace and balance with. She toppled into his lap, his strong arms holding her close.

"I just wanted you to myself for just a bit longer."

"I'm here now."

"I know." His lips found hers and kissed her. His big hands going into her hair, tracing her delicate cheekbones with his thumbs. "I'm going to have find you something besides my shirt to wear though."

* * *

Elsa and Hans reached the islands at nightfall. The San Juan Islands of the Northern Waters. This where they were told Anna had made her home for the last fifteen years. How had she survived in these cold waters for so long. She was beginning to think that she and Hans came all this way for nothing. If they had truly lost their sister, Elsa's heart would never recover.

 


	7. Reunited

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 7: Reunited

Anna took to domestic life with Kris rather quickly. She figured out Bulda's old sewing machine and made herself some clothes out of Bulda's old things and they looked really cute. She hadn't gotten the cooking part down yet but there was still time to figure that out. They hadn't really left the cottage together since she got her legs. They hadn't talked about what happened or how it happened but they were going to enjoy each other for as along as they could.

Anna spent most of the morning out on the dock, staring out at the islands. Her friends were gone. Kali and Taani had moved on to the warmer waters. Marshmallow, the turtle stayed close to the dock, he had been with Anna his whole life, he being the reason they were both in the north. He was an orphan and wouldn't survive long in the cold waters without Anna to keep him warm. Sea turtles weren't supposed to be this far north.

"Kris, I have to go find Marshmallow," Anna said coming back inside the cottage. "He's not at the dock. I think he got lost when the tide went out."

"Should we take the  _Folly_?" Kris asked, taking her hand in his. Anna's love for the little turtle was almost as encompassing as her love for him. "The water's going to be rough with the winter storms rolling in."

"I don't think he's gotten far," Anna said, loving the feel of his hands in hers. "Hopefully he's just at the mouth of the cove, down in our cavern."

Anna slipped her feet into the rubber boots that Marie brought over. She and Jack had questions but also respected that Kris was a grown man and if he wanted to have his girlfriend over all the time they don't really have any say over that. But they were worried. Anna had appeared out of no where. Since when did the Anacortes whale-watching boats stop in Arendelle? Who was Anna and what did she want with their Kris?

"You worry too much," Jack told his wife.

"Jack, we don't know anything about this girl."

"Marie, he's a grown man. He's not a little boy anymore. We can't tell him anything. You're not his mother."

"I promised Bulda on her deathbed, that I would look out for Kris. This Anna could be taking advantage of him."

Jack looked at the older woman. "Marie, leave them alone."

Kris faced the choppy waters of the cove and rowed out to the rocks where he and Anna had spent so much of their summer together. He threw the rope out to catch on the rebar to tie the boat off. Kris climbed out and held his hand out for Anna. She wasn't used to walking and trying to step from the rocking boat onto the rocks was hard, even for him. She lost her balance and fell into him.

"I've got you," Kris said.

Anna stepped carefully around the large man and knelt down at the edge of the water. She dipped her hands into the water, splashing and calling for the little turtle. "Marshy, Marshmallow, come on little guy. Come on out." She spreads some of his favorite foods on the surface of the water hoping it'll entice him to come to the surface. "Marshmallow, come buddy. Kris and I are going to take you to the cottage."

Hearing voices, Elsa and Hans swam to the surface to see a redheaded girl crouched on the edge of the rocks. "Kris, something's wrong. He should have come by now?" Elsa stared at the girl. There was something about her face that made Elsa want to get closer to her. She could be Anna but Elsa couldn't be sure.

Kris was pulling on his wetsuit and grabbing his diving mask. "The water's too rough for you, Anna," he signed. "I'll dive down to your cavern and see if he's there."

"Be careful, Kris," Anna said, kissing his cheek.

He straight dived into the black water and swam down to Anna's cavern. Even in the height of the summer, the waters of the northern Puget Sound are not anywhere close to warm. He'd have to look quickly to keep from freezing to death. He shone his flashlight into the cavern and there huddled near the geyser was Marshmallow. He carefully tucked the small turtle into the crook of his arm and headed back to the surface.

"Look who I found," Kris said, handing the turtle to Anna.

"You gave me quite a scare, Marshmallow! Let's get inside before we all freeze."

Elsa couldn't hold it back anymore. "ANNA!" she screamed, swimming towards the rocks. "ANNA!"

Anna turned to the sound. Her face was pained and she couldn't believe she was hearing. It couldn't be. "Elsa?"

"Anna?" Kris signed, squeezing her elbow. "What is it?"

"Elsa," Anna signed, tapping the E hand against her right lower jaw. "It can't be though."

"Your sister? But I thought…"

"Me too." Anna looked into the swirling back water. A white skinned woman, white almost silver-white hair was swimming towards them. She dove under the punishing waves, Hans right on her tail. She surfaced again right in front of Anna. They were both older but the last memory Anna had of Elsa was swimming to the north to see the orcas. That was fifteen years ago. They were now face to face. Another face popped up out of the water. The middle brother, Hans. Anna couldn't believe it. "Is it really you?"

The two merfolk reached out of the water and grabbed onto Anna, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Where have you been?" Anna cried.

"We've been looking for you," Elsa cried along with her. "Wait, why are you human?"

"I don't know," Anna said. "Kris said he loves me and kissed me. Light shone through my tail and when it went away, I had legs."

Hans and Elsa looked at each other and back at Anna. "Who's Kris?"

"He is," Anna said, waving him over. "Kris, this is Elsa and Hans, my sister and brother."

Kris signed his hellos and nice to meet yous. Elsa and Hans stared at him. "Why are you both doing that with your hands?" Elsa asked.

"Kris is deaf. He can't hear. He uses signs to communicate," Anna said, signing for Kris so he wouldn't be left out. She's learned that since becoming human. Marie came over the other day and was asking Anna all sorts of questions, not signing for Kris and he got really mad. Not at Anna but at Marie. She knew better.

"Come on Anna," Hans said. "The waters will only be getting colder. We need to bring you home."

"But I am home. Here. With Kris."

"Anna don't be stupid," Hans said, glaring up at the large blond human. "What life can you possibly have here in this frozen wasteland? Come home with your family."

"Family?! What family? You left me here! And now you come back? I am staying here with Kris. Neptune himself couldn't make me leave him."

"Anna please," Elsa said. "Come back with us. We have been looking for you for so long now."

"No. I have been dreaming about this moment for fifteen years. But now, I have someone who loves me and I am not leaving him."

 


	8. Forcing Her Hand

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 8: Forcing Her Hand

"Anna, you can't stay here," Elsa said, holding onto her sister's hand. "It's not safe."

"How would you know? This has been my home forever. You just got here. I'm not a child anymore. There is nothing you can say that's going to make me come with you ever."

"Anna, enough of this foolishness," Hans snapped. "You belong with your people."

"My people? Who couldn't be bothered to look for a child that had gone missing? I have my people and he's right there. While it's been nice to see you, the seas are getting choppy and it'll take all Kris's strength to row us back home. Goodbye."

"That's it? Anna please, we just found you," Elsa pleaded with her sister. "I can't lose you again."

"You see that dock and house at the center of the cove?" Anna said, pointing to their home. "That's my home now. If you want to see me, that's where I'll be."

She carefully stepped out around the rocks holding tight to Kris's hand. He helps her into the boat and he pushes off and steps in, adjusting around the oars and began the difficult task of rowing back to the house. Elsa watched with a heavy heart as Anna's back was to her.

"Don't worry, Elsa," Hans said, wrapping his arm around his sister. "We'll get her back. She'll remember where she came from soon enough."

Back inside the warmth of the cottage, curled up tight in Kris's arms, Anna began to cry. The emotions she held in upon seeing her brother and sister again after all these years came pouring out. She clung to him, tears staining his shirt. He held her small frame to his body, feeling her heartbeat and her shaking. Her mouth was moving but he couldn't understand her. He wanted so much to be able to really talk to her and be there for her. Her sobs lessen and she pulls away from Kris, wiping her eyes. He hated to see her so unhappy.

"How can I help?" Kris asked, searching her face. "Anna, my love?"

"Why did they have to come back?" Anna asked.

"I don't know, Anna," Kris answered. He had wished for the same thing growing up, before Captain and Bulda. He used to dream about who his parents were and why they let him go. His and Anna's lives were not all that different. Both were abandoned as small children, forced to find their own way in the world. Alone and forgotten. Kris will never allow Anna to be forgotten about for as long as he drew breath. He would be there for her in every way possible. He loved her with every emotion he had. He wakes up on the couch and his first thought is of her. His last thought was of her. He would do anything possible for her. He held her tight, kissing her deeply. "All I know," he said, pulling away from her so she could see his signs. "Is that I love you and I won't let anything happen to you."

* * *

"Hans, what are you doing?" Elsa asked.

"She belongs with her people not on land with that human," Hans spat. He hated humans. Being the only son of the last remaining royal line, it was his sworn duty to protect the race and keep their existence hidden from the humans. "I have the power granted to me by our ancestors. I will being her back to us."

"Maybe we should just leave her be. She seems happy here," Elsa said, unsure about her brother's plan.

"We have not been search for her these past years to give her up to the humans. I don't know how long the magic that is allowing her to be human is going to last. It can't be permanent so I am going to speed up the process." His eyes clouded over and he began to chat in a language even Elsa had never heard of. A row of black clouds rolled over the cove and began to pout down heavy, punishing rain. The storm pounded the island, angry thunder and lightning crack across the sky. Sven whines and hid under the table in the kitchen.

"What is going on?" Kris asked, the vibrations of the storm shaking the house.

"He's forcing my hand," Anna said. "But it's not going to work."

Suddenly she cried out crumpling to the floor. Her beautiful, soft legs were being fused back together, the scales and fins returning. Tears of pain and anguish came from Anna as her transformation engulfed her. Kris knelt beside her, holding her, the anger rising in him as she was forced back to her mermaid state. He didn't want to leave her but he knew she wouldn't have much time to spare once the transformation was complete. He had to get her to water. The tub was already full of water and Marshmallow was swimming lazily in the warmth. He was going to get a tub mate in a moment. He didn't dare take Anna back out to the cove, not when they were waiting for her. His only option was the tub. He scooped her up into his arms and carefully and quickly carried her into the bathroom and eased her down into the warm water. Anna was sobbing, scratching against the scales that were inching their way up her body. The branches of her tail regrew and she felt trapped.

"Kris," she cried, reaching for his hand. "Please keep me safe."

"I will my love. I will."

 


	9. Protecting Anna

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 9: Protecting Anna

_Fifteen Years Prior_

_"Elsa, stay with Anna," her mother told her. That's what Elsa's job was when they were traveling north. She was supposed to stay with Anna and she didn't. She was more concerned with being with her friends instead of_ _having her baby sister tagging along. Elsa was nine and wanted to explore the Northern Waters with her friends. Anna was being whiny and clingy and Elsa pointed her towards the reef and let her explore. It wasn't until they gathered for the nightly meal that Elsa realized that Anna was missing. The party searched the waters for hours looking for the small mermaid, with no avail. There was no trace of the girl and Elsa blamed herself._

_Hans, being the middle child and the only boy,_ _wasn't allowed to wander off or play while they were stopped. He had school and lessons to learn. He was being groomed to take their father's place on the council. A council seat wasn't just given to anyone. Their deeds and works were judged. Hans was never good at the deed and goods works side of the program. Manipulative even as a child, he relied on his charm and good looks to get him where he wanted to be._

_Anna being the curious and inquisitive child that she was swam off into the reef in search of something interesting. More interesting than her crabby older sister. She found a turtle, he was very small, just like she was and he looked lost. She started calling him Marshmallow and together they explored the reef. She swam for miles and got lost. She tried to find her way back to where her family was but she couldn't find her way. She stayed near the mouth of the Puget Sound where she had first seen Kali, the humpback whale and her mate Rama. Kali showed the small mermaid where the warmer waters were and where to find her food. For the rest of her life, she and Marshmallow explored the Northern Waters._

_The family gave up looking for Anna after a few days. The elders decided that the child had been lost to a current and there would be no finding her. Elsa was beside herself because Anna had been her_ _responsibility and she lost her. For the next fifteen years she and her brother chased lead after lead trying to find their lost sister. But they never went to the far north where the orcas and humpbacks went. No merperson could possibly survive the frozen north. But the small child found a way. And in the frozen Northern Waters, Anna thrived and survived._

* * *

Kris was beside himself. He didn't have a clue as to how to help Anna. It had been two days since her forced transformation and nothing he could do that would reverse it. Every morning and evening he could see Hans rise out of the surf and yelled to the house for Kris to give up Anna. Not that his rantings did any good, considering he was shouting at a deaf man.

Anna wasn't doing well in the tub. She was depressed and was crying. Sven sat by the tub, letting Anna's hand rest on the top of his head. She wouldn't talk to him and would hear the shoutings of her brother, his words breaking her down. By the second day of this Kris was ready to meet Hans head on and use his massive upper body strength to beat the shit out of Hans. Instead Kris knelt beside Anna, held her hand and hoped she would talk to him. Used to silence it didn't bother him, but from Anna whom he's grown to love deeply, her shutting him out stung worse than the bullies at the mainland school.

"Anna, please, talk to me, tell me how to help you," Kris signed to her, pleading with his honey brown eyes. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

"We can't live like this," Anna said. "Someone's bound to notice him and his rantings. I should just go with them."

"I don't want you to leave, I love you."

"What life can we have together, Kris? You're human, I'm a mermaid. Marie is already suspicious of me. I don't belong here. I don't belong out there with them. I don't belong anywhere."

"Stop it!" Kris said, standing up and overturning the magazine rack. Unable to scream and shout, throwing things was his only sure fire way to show his anger and frustration. "You do belong! Here with me! Anna, I love you. I love you and I would gladly spend my entire life with you out on the rocks of the cove. What I can't do, is see you this way." He knelt back beside her taking her pale cheeks in his hands, pressing his lips to hers. "Come back to me."

Inside her she could feel something fighting against the spell Hans had placed on her. She cried out in pain. She pushed Kris away. "No please, Kris. It hurts, like something trying to rip through my body."

"What has he done to you?" Kris asked, his rage being bottled and channeled towards the jackass in the cove. He's half tempted to sic Sven on him and let the dog tear out his throat. But that wouldn't be good for Sven.

"I don't know. But I can't leave here with them. He wants me for something but I don't understand what."

"Elsa," Kris said. "Maybe she can help you."

Anna nods. Kris whistled for Sven and the pair head out to  _Bulda's Folly_ in the search for Elsa. Maybe the older girl would be able help Anna. Hans' magic had created an unnatural weather pattern around the island and it would take all the  _Folly's_ got to reach Elsa. He had to do it, for Anna, for their love.

Inside the house Anna covered her ears. His voice, cold and cruel was penetrating deep. "How can he love you?" his voice hissed. "You're not human. How could he ever want you?"

"Stop it! Stop it!" Anna cried out. "Kris loves me. Kris loves me." Anna repeated the words over and over, rocking in the tub. She could feel that pain again, burning deeper within her. The light that shone from her tail when she was transformed into a human two weeks ago was glowing from her tail once again. Anna closed her eyes and tried to remember every moment she had spent with Kris. The first time she saw him, he was about sixteen, she was nine. It was in summer and he and Sven were running on the beach. He wasn't as big as he was but he was still that kind sweet boy. Anna felt a pull towards him even at her young age. Her heart filled with the love she had for the man. A love that was more powerful than even her brother's dark magic. The light glowing from her tail was brighter now. Anna remembered the day she took him diving with Kali and Taani. The smile that was on his face. The way her heart fluttered with trepidation when she whispered the words of her love to him, knowing he wouldn't hear her and that was all right with her.

"So the valiant knight coming to vanquish the enemy," Hans chuckled watching Kris battle the rouge waves in the  _Folly_. "I will crush you." Hans ordered the waves to become rougher, the howling wind punishing the small boat. Kris's anger towards the merman is just as strong. He turned the wheel of the  _Folly_  with ease. Having been caught in a nasty squall with Captain many years prior, Kris remembered how to sail through it.

Anna fearing for Kris, pulled herself up out of the tub and began to crawl to the door. Hans would kill Kris to get his way. It took all Anna had to crawl through the house to the door. She had to get to the water and stop her vengeful brother from killing her most beloved. Once on the porch it would be a matter of getting a good roll towards the shoreline and let the waves pull her into the sea. She threw herself down the slight incline towards the sea. Weak and in pain she hit the surf and began the pursuit after Kris and her brother. Diving deep below the surface she fought the heavy currents to reach Kris. If it would keep Hans from killing him, she would go back with them.

A rogue wave crashes into the  _Folly_  and it took all Kris had to keep upright at the helm. He was cold and wet but he was determined to brave these waves to reach the person who might be able to help him. Sven hid beneath the helm, shivering. A funnel of water rose out in front of the  _Folly,_ Kris could see the image of Hans getting closer.

Anna dove deep, getting under the angry waves. She was in pain but that didn't stop her. She had to get to Kris, she had to keep him safe. She'd never forgive herself if something happened to him because of her.

"Hans enough!" Elsa shouted at her brother. "This isn't right! She's your sister."

He waved his hand and the seaweed began to grow and surround Elsa, binding and silencing her. "Stay out of this."

Anna looked through the murky water and saw her brother and the seaweed wrapped around her sister. While she had no real love towards them, her caring nature couldn't bear to see someone being mistreated. She swam faster towards the two merpeople.

On the surface, the winds were picking up and the waves getting rougher. A rogue wave crashed into the side of the  _Folly_ washing Kris overboard. Sven, caught in the wave went over as well. The waters tossed and tumbled the pair over and over. Kris had never been thrown overboard before and all he could think about was getting to the surface before he drowned. He fought and clawed at the water, trying to reach the surface.

"KRIS!" Anna screamed, turning from her pursuit to her brother to the love of her life. "NO! KRIS!" She reached out, catching him under his arms, and began pulling him to the surface.

 


	10. In Pursuit of True Love

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 10: In Pursuit of True Love

"Kris, you have to get away from here," Anna said, getting him closer to the rocks.

"No, I won't leave you," Kris argued. "Where's Sven? He was washed overboard too."

"Look there!" Anna said, pointing towards the shoreline. Sven paddling his heart out to reach the sand. "Good boy, Sven."

Kris held Anna to him, the pain still great but bearable for the moment. Hans rose out of the water, the seas calming. He wore a menacing grin on his face, his sandy red hair, dripping with seawater.

"Come to your senses, sister," Hans demanded. "You belong with your people."

"No," Anna said, clinging to Kris's neck. "I know what you want and I'm not going to let you have it. The magic is mine, it's what has kept me alive here. I may have only been a child but I remember."

"You remember nothing!" Hans spat.

"Father, telling you that if you wanted to be on the council that you would have to do good deeds and good works. Letting your sister vanish into the frozen north, you will  _never_  take a seat on the council."

"So be it then," Hans said, rising further out of the water. With a flick of his wrist, he created a whirlpool, sucking Kris down to the seafloor.

"NO! KRIS!" Anna screamed.

"One turn of my hand and I will drop the whirlpool on his and you'll have no chance to save him." Hans chuckled, cruelly. "Come back and take your place in your rightful world and I will spare him. Refuse me again and he will rot in a watery grave."

Anna looked down the whirlpool at Kris. He looked so small and that made her cry. Kris was anything but small. Kris was the best thing to ever happen in her life and she couldn't lose him. She was at an impossible impasse. She could just give her "brother" what he wants and he might just leave and never come back. But she could give him her magic and he could still drown Kris. She couldn't take that chance. She'd rather it be her at the bottom of the whirlpool. A world without Kris would be hell.

"Please," Anna said, finally, staring down at Kris. It would kill them both but it had to be done. She had to save him. "Don't hurt him. I'll go back with you. Let him get back to his boat. Then I will go with you.  _But_  you have to ensure his safety."

"I knew you'd see things my way," Hans said, slowing the whirlpool bringing Kris back to the surface. He directed the big man to his dilapidated boat, allowing him to climb on board. Anna couldn't bear to look back at Kris as she swam towards Hans.

"Let me say goodbye?" Anna asked. "I'm never going to see him again. You have to let me say goodbye."

"You have a lot of demands. But fine. You have five minutes." The waters calmed and Anna swam to the  _Folly_ and climbed up the platform. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Anna? Anna, what's wrong?" Kris asked, rushing over to her. "Anna?"

"I have to leave with him," Anna said. "I can't stay. If I stay he'll kill you and I can't let that happen."

"I'll come with you," Kris said, his hands shaking. "Please don't leave me."

"Kris, he's going to kill you to get his way. I don't have a choice. Please understand. I'm doing this for you. I can't let him hurt you."

"There has to be another way," Kris argued. "Anna please, I can't lose you too."

"I'll always be right here," Anna said, placing her hand on his heart. "You have given me more in two months than anyone else. I will always think back on our time together with great fondness. I love you. Always."

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. She kissed his cheek and he caught her chin in his hands. Taking her face in his big hands, Kris kissed her, pain and desperation filling them both.

"Time's up little sister," Hans shouted. "I will not hesitate."

"Find me!" Anna signs furiously. "No matter how long it takes. Find me."

"I will Anna. I love you."

"And I you," Anna said. One last deep kiss and Anna sinks into the sea. "Find me."

* * *

The winter was long and cold. The cove filled with ice, making it impossible to get out. Kris was miserable. It had been a month since Anna was taken from him and he was no closer to being able to search for her then the day she was taken. That's how Kris saw it. Anna didn't leave, she was taken. And he was going to find her, even if it took the rest of his life.

"I have to find her," Kris said, staring out at the horizon. "Sven, she has to be out there somewhere."

The dalmatian whined and laid his head on his master's knee. Marie's truck was pulling up to the house. She was worried about him. Ever since that strange storm they had a month ago and sudden vanishment of Anna, Kris had been moody and was slowly burning up, the slightest change could cause him to blow. She and Jack tried to talk to him but all he would answer with was "I have to find her."

"Kris, honey?" Marie called, entering the house flipping the lights. "Kristoff?"

Out on the back deck, staring out over the water sat Kris, where he'd been since Anna left. Marie opened the door and joined him on the bench. "Talk to me Bulda's Boy," Marie said, looking right at him. "What happened to Anna?"

"She was taken from me," Kris said, still staring out the water.

"You mean she had to go back home and haven't been able to get back here?" Marie questioned.

"No. She was taken from me."

"I don't understand, Kris. Where's Anna?"

"Out there somewhere," Kris answered.

"Kris, enough. What's going on around here? Who is Anna, really?"

"A mermaid."

Kristoff had told some wild tales before, thanks in part to Captain's own tales but this one took the cake. "There's no such thing as mermaids."

"Marie, think about it. Anna just appeared. We made up a bullshit story about meeting on the beach. But really, I met her out there, at the mouth of the cove. She had been living in a cavern just below the surface since she was a child. I taught her to sign, giving her Mom's old sign language books. And she took me out to swim with humpbacks."

Marie sat quietly, staring out at the sea. More and more details about Anna and her relationship with Kris started to make sense. "Where did she go?"

"She was taken, by her brother. He had to have the family line intact in order to take his place with the nobles or something."

"And once he does that is she going to come back?"

"I don't think he'll let her. He has a vendetta against humans. He tried to kill me because I was with her."

"WHAT?!"

"Anna left to save my life. But I'm going to find her and free her from him. Then we're going to find a way to be together."

 


	11. The Southern Waters

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 11: The Southern Waters

Anna was warm, too warm. The farther south they traveled warmer she got and it was making her sick. Having adapted to the cold Northern Waters, Anna wouldn't survive long in the warmer south. She hoped now that Hans had gotten his way and was taking her back to the seat of their peoples hierarchy, he might relent and let her return to her home. To Kris. She missed him terribly. For the first few days she cried silently, her heart breaking into pieces too small to be put back together. She ached to be back in his arms, in the cozy cottage by the sea. She longed to walk hand in hand with him along the shoreline watching Sven run.

Her bother hadn't said a word to her since she left with him. Elsa tried to make conversation with her, asking her questions about the north, about Kris. But Anna was too angry to speak to either of them. To be obstinate, she only spoke in sign, refusing to speak. The journey south was long and boring. Nothing looked familiar to her and she wished she could just go home. Home to her Kris. But she couldn't risk running off because she knew if she did, she would surely be signing Kris's death certificate.

"We will be arriving soon," Hans said finally. "Big happy faces for the return of the Westergard family."

_Fuck you_ , Anna signed to her "brother."

"And enough with that human nonsense, Anna. You're a mermaid, act like one.

_Fuck you_ , Anna signed again.

"Careful sister, all it would take is a flick of my hand and that human of yours would cease to exist."

They swam for a few more days before finally arriving somewhere in the central Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii. They dive deep down and come up to large underwater mountain that's what Anna thought it was anyway. She could see her own kind swimming in and out of the rock walls, tunnels leading deep inside the earth. If she wasn't so angry she might find it inspiring. Hans pounds on the gate door. Two sentries look down on the trio.

"What business have you in Odyssey?" one shouted down.

"The Westergard Family to meet with the council," Hans shouted up. "I am Hans Westergard and I have my two sisters Elsa and at long last Anna Westergard, here to claim our birthright."

_Bjorgman. Anna Bjorgman. That's my name now. I want nothing to do with these people. I want to go to him._ The gates opened and the three swam through. Elsa wrapped her arm over Anna's shoulders.

"It's not so bad here in Odyssey," Elsa said. "You might even learn to like it here."

"You took me from the only home I have ever known. And you took me from Kris. For that alone, I will  _never_ forgive you."

"Anna, I had nothing to do with all this. I wanted to find you, make sure you were safe and loved. If it had been up to me, you would've stayed with Kris," Elsa said, stung by the harsh words of her sister. "I will do what I can to get you back to him. I promise."

"Happy faces," Hans said as they swam towards the tower in the center of the city. Anna was doing her best to keep her anger from showing as they swam through the city. Her thoughts weren't on the sights or the sounds of the mer-city but of the pain and turmoil Kris must be facing, thousands of miles north.

* * *

"I need you to drive me to the mainland," Kris said to Marie. It had gotten to be too much to just sit around and wait for the cove to thaw so he could go after Anna. "I need to get to the coast and go after her."

"Kris, she could be anywhere. There's a lot of ocean out there."

"Marie, I have to find her. She is my heart. I love Anna, more than I thought possible. She completes me and I can't let her go without knowing she's okay."

"Why don't you wait another week, Kris? The cove should be thawed enough that you'll be able to get out to sea and find her. I know you love her, that's evident. But please think about what you're asking. Kris, you're all I have left of Bulda. If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself."

"Aunt Marie," Kris said, pulling the older woman into his arms. "I know I haven't been the most grateful lately, but thank you for everything you've done for me since Captain and Mom died."

Sven began barking his head off, scratching at Kris. "Is that a humpback in the cove?" Marie questioned.

"That's Taani," Kris said. The young whale breached the surface and came down, shattering the ice in the cove. "Good girl." He turned to face Marie, the plan forming in his head as he signed. "I need all the barrels of fuel the  _Folly_ can carry. Enough food to last us a few months. Sven and I leave in the morning."

"Kris, be safe."

* * *

Elsa stuck close to Anna. She didn't want to lose her in the city. They arrived at the seat of power in Odyssey, Hans pulled the long cord, a bell chiming, echoing deep in the rocks. A fancy dressed merman opened the door and Hans greeted him with a bow.

"My Lord Weaslton," Hans said, bowing low. "At long last the Westergard family is whole. May I introduce my sisters, Lady Elsa Westergard and Lady Anna Westergard?"

"We believed the youngest Westergard to be dead," Lord Weaslton said, looking Anna up and down. He couldn't be sure that Hans hadn't just paid some girl of the right age to pretend to be his lost sister. "Come inside and we shall perform the Heritage Summons."

"What's the Heritage Summons?" Anna asked Elsa, in a low whisper.

"It's a spell the nobles use to determine a merperson's birthright," Elsa explained. "They have to be sure you are who we say you are."

"What would happen if a merperson tries to claim a birthright that isn't theirs?"

"The whole family line could be removed from service to Odyssey," Elsa said. "It's happened to two other families."

The trio followed Lord Weaslton into a chamber made entirely of volcanic glass, harvested from Kīlauea. A single blue jellyfish produces an eerie light in the chamber. Hans floats in the shadows, watching his two sisters. Elsa's pale skin glows in the light from the jellyfish. Anna looks around the dark chamber, amazed by all the sights.

"Young lady, place your hand here, please," Lord Weaslton said, indicating to a smooth piece of rock jutting out of the center of the chamber. Anna swam forward and placed her hand on the stone. Above them images of her life passed by. She saw herself as a small child following Marshmallow into the reef. Her first winter in the cavern. Kali, Taani and Rama swimming with her. Her breath caught when the image of Kris came over.  _Kris, my love. I will come back to you._

"Who is that man, child?" Lord Weaslton asked.

"Kris, sir," Anna said, looking up at Kris's smiling face, wishing she could be back with him. "A human man who loves me more than I thought possible. He is searching for me because I was taken from him at the threat of his own life."

The events of the last day she was with Kris played out over their heads. The raging storm, Kris being swept overboard, Anna's struggle to save him. All the while Hans' face growing darker and darker as his misdeeds are shown to the highest noble. His jaw tightening. She would not keep him from his birthright.

"Oh my child, such a life you have had. I apologize as I was one of the elders who deemed you lost to us all these years ago," Lord Weaslton said, giving Anna a bow. "We welcome you home if you choose to remain here in Odyssey."

"I do not wish remain here, as lovely as it is. I long to return to my love and the home we have in the north," Anna said. "Please Lord Weaslton, I want to be with Kris. I love him."

A light shone through her tail, much like it had when she first transformed from a mermaid into a human. Elsa gasped and Hans looked on, forming a plan in his head. Weaslton was an old fool and would surely see the descrution of Odyssey in his lifetime. Hans had to convince him that Kris was dangerous and allowing Anna to return to him would bring the destruction of their world.

"My lord, the human has bewitched my sister into believing he loves her," Hans said, coming out of the shadows. "I believe he means to do her harm and our people."

"No!" Anna exclaimed. "Kris is good and kind and gentle. He wouldn't hurt us." She rounded on her brother. "He on the other hand took me from my home under threat, tried to murder Kris and would kill us all to get what he wants!"

A cracking and shattering sound is heard as Hans used his magic to collapse the chamber.


	12. The Collapse of Odyssey

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 12: The Collapse of Odyssey

_Bulda's Folly_ was chugging along the coast, Kris standing at her helm, staring out across the open water of the Pacific Ocean. The big man had sixty-eight million square miles to look for his love in. It was like looking for a specific needle in the largest pile of needles ever. She was out there somewhere and he was going to find her, if it killed him. He sailed down the California coast, docking in San Francisco for supplies and fuel. He figured he'd check in with an expert in humpback whales to see if they knew where Rama, Kali and Taani might winter. He had a meeting with Dr. Jennifer Buckley at San Francisco State University. He arranged the meeting through the deaf students resource and hoped one of them would be on hand to interpret for him. He brought with him the photos he had taken of Kali and Taani before Anna was taken as references for Dr. Buckley.

"Kris Bjorgman?" Dr. Buckley asked, shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you." A boy about nineteen, was standing next to Dr. Buckley, translating for him. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if these are the humpbacks you have been tracking?" Kris asked, showing her the photos.

"Is that Rita?" Dr. Buckley asked, taking the photo from Kris. "And her calf Louise?"

"I know them as Kali and Taani," Kris said. "But I think so."

"Why are you looking for them?" She got very close to Kris, looking at his photos of the humpbacks. Her fragrant perfume attacked his senses, making him sneeze. Dr. Buckley was about Kris's age and she kept close to him, her hands on his big arms. Kris tried to shrug her off but she was persistent. She was tall and slender, almost as tall as Kris with waist length black hair. Her skinned deeply tanned from too many hours out on the water. The kind of girl that Kris would have gone for had Anna not come into his life.

"My mother passed away and she loved the whales and wants to spread her ashes in their winter home," Kris said.

"When did you last see them?"

"About three months ago off the coast of Washington," Kris said. "My knowledge of their migration patterns have them headed for the Hawaiian waters."

"That sounds like them," Dr. Buckley said. "Have you seen the male?"

"Rama? Not since I was a child."

"We're afraid a whaling ship got him a few months ago. A whale of his size just doesn't vanish. But back to your question, the girls like the waters of Hawaii. Near the big island."

"Thank you Dr. Buckley," Kris said shaking her hand. "You have been a great help."

"Let me know if you find them," she said, smiling at Kris. "And if you're back in San Francisco, maybe we could have dinner?"

"I can't," Kris said. "I have someone very special in my life."

"I see," Dr. Buckley said. "Can't blame a girl for trying."

Again he thanked Dr. Buckley for her time, pulled on Sven's harness and headed off the campus. He hailed a cab and headed back to the marina. He refueled the  _Folly_ , refilling the extra barrels. On the TV at the marina fueling station was a story about a strange occurrence happening off the coast of the big island of Hawaii. The clerk flipped the captions on, allowing Kris to understand what was going on.

"A strange underwater earthquake has occurred near Kilauea," the reporter said. "Scientists are baffled to understand what is happening under the water's surface. They have been impeded by high frequencies and static. They plan to send robotics to the site to get a better picture."

"Hans," Kris signed to himself. He whistled for Sven and they headed back to the  _Folly._ Firing up the engines, he chugged out of the harbor and into the open water heading south-southeast. "I'm coming my love. I'm coming for you."

* * *

Panic filled the tunnels and streets of the underwater paradise of Odyssey. The temple was crumbling around them and they had no idea why. Anna grabbed her sister's hand as the rocks of the ceiling came crashing to the floor. Shards of volcanic glass shattered as it hit, Anna and Elsa ducking low as they swam for the door. Anna had lived through a similar underwater earthquake as a child. She got as far away from any hanging rocks as she could. She took shelter near the cove, the angry waves crashing into the shore.

"We have to get out of here!" Anna shouted over the rumbling. "He's going to bring the whole place down!"

"If we get out of this, Anna, you go back to Kris."

"So not the time, Elsa!"

The sisters swam to the door of the chamber and helped others get out of the temple. Hans' maniacal laughter echoed, amplified by magic. His dastardly deeds becoming clear to everyone. The sentries did their best to evacuate the city as the rocks came down. His anger at being outed for his wrongdoings made a toddler's temper tantrums seem mild. Rocks flew through the air, the screams of the people as they tried to get out of the city. Sentries and other guards advanced on the temple in an attempt to take down the madman destroying their homeland.

Children were crying, lost from their parents. Elsa scooped up two in her arms and helped get them to safety. Anna looked back at the temple as it crumbled. The panicked people of Odyssey were perplexed as to what was happening. Anna had to do something, this was in part her fault. She angered him to the point he would destroy his whole world to get what he wants. Anna swam back through the panicked people and stopped short of the temple.

"Hans! Enough! This isn't going to get you what you want," Anna shouted. "What good is going to come of this?"

"A Westergard has sat on the council for generations! You will not rob me of my birthright!" Hans' deep, magically enhanced voice boomed.

* * *

The old fishing boat wasn't doing well. The engine was overheating, black smoke billowing out of engine compartment. He was too far away from anyone or anything to seek out help. Not that he would be able to call for help. No one out here would understand a Morse code message. His heart sank with worry and fear. At this rate Anna could possibly be dead by the time he reached her and that would surely kill him. The last breath of  _Bulda's Folly_  sputtered and coughed, wheezing as it died.  _So this is how I die,_  Kris thought, signing to himself.  _Starving to death in the middle of the Pacific Ocean._

Something very large bumped into the side of the  _Folly_ , damn near knocking Kris overboard. He caught his balance and saw the spray of a whale along the side of his boat. The whale was huge, over forty five feet in length. Kris's eyes went wide when he realized who it was. Rama, Kali's mate. The large whale kept bashing into the back of the  _Folly_ , shoving the boat forward. Kris got an idea, sliding down the ladder from the helm. He began knotting all of his ropes together, making the longest length he could get. He threw the length out into the waters and hoped that Rama would grab onto it and tow him to Hawaii.

Rama, by some magic, understood what Kris wanted and took the rope in his jaws and began to pull the boat towards Hawaii. Rama dived down and swam fast, causing Kris to grip tightly to the railing, holding on for dear life.

* * *

The destruction of Odyssey was coming to an end. There wasn't much left after Hans was done. Many were dead, injured and missing. Anna among them.

 


	13. Sorting Through the Ruins

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 13: Sorting Through the Ruins

All through the night and well into the morning, Rama pulled the _Folly_ towards the big island of Hawaii. He came to a sudden, harsh stop about a hundred miles off the coast of Hawaii, on the Kīlauea side. An angry orange glow shone from the ocean floor, where Odyssey once stood. Kris looked over the edge of the  _Folly_  and knew what he had to do. He bowed to Rama, thanking him for his help, the whale dove down and swam off in search of his own love and family. Kris dropped the anchor and got into his scuba gear. Down there, somewhere Anna was hurt and he had to find her. He had to because if the feeling in the pit of his stomach didn't dissipate soon, it would be the end of him. Leaving enough water and food for Sven, he dives off his boat, armed with an underwater flashlight and enough air for three hours, he was going to find her.

* * *

Beneath the rubble of what was once the temple of Odyssey, trapped in a pocket of rocks and shards of volcanic glass, was Anna and a small merchild. A rock would have crushed the child had Anna not intervened and got the child out of harms way. Getting trapped beneath the rubble hadn't been in the plan.

"What's your name?" Anna asked the child.

"Gillyweed," the little girl said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Anna." She made her sign name out of habit.

"What does that mean?" Gillyweed asked, mimicking Anna's movements.

"It means my name in sign language," Anna said. "The man I love can't hear so we talk with our hands and expressions."

"Are we going to die? Is the bad man going to destroy more of the city?"

Anna cradled the small girl in her arms, hugging her tightly. A song she remembered Bulda singing while she was cleaning the  _Folly_  one afternoon. " _Lavender's blue dilly dilly, lavender's green. When I am king dilly dilly, you shall be queen. Who told you so dilly dilly, who told you so? Twas my own heart dilly dilly that told me so. Call up your men, dilly, dilly, set them to work. Some to the plow, dilly, dilly, some to the fork. Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to cut corn. While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm. Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, lavender's blue, If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you. Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, and the lambs play. We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm's way. I love to dance, dilly, dilly, I love to sing. When I am queen, dilly, dilly, you'll be my king. Who told me so, dilly, dilly, who told me so? I told myself, dilly, dilly, I told me so._ "

"That's a pretty song, Anna," Gillyweed said. "Where did you hear it?"

"On land. A lady was singing it while she was cleaning."

"You've been on land? But how?"

Anna, to pass the time until they could be found told the little girl about her life. How she was lost from her family and lived in the Northern Waters. She told her about Marshmallow and their adventures. Gillyweed listened with rapt attention. She giggled about the silly things Marshmallow would do when he first met Kali and Taani. Gillyweed loved hearing about the whales and Anna's adventures with them. Anna tried to keep the child from noticing that her tail was trapped.

* * *

The sight before Kris was indescribable. Merpeople huddled together, some crying, some staring in disbelief at the ruins of their once proud and majestic city. He searched their faces for Anna but couldn't see her. Maybe she was close but yet visible to him. In the chaos of the city crumbling no one noticed the human diver. The guards, other nobles, and sentries had managed to subdue Hans with magic greater than his own and imprisoned him deep in a cavern below what remained of the city. Very near where Anna and Gillyweed were trapped. There he couldn't hurt anyone ever again. Now came the recovery effort. Lord Weaslton, while injured himself, oversaw the reuniting of families, while Elsa and other ladies of the noble families helped create lists of the missing.

Kris swam among the ruins searching every face for Anna. She had to be somewhere. He shone his flashlight into the fallen rocks, signing her name over and over. He went deeper, watching the gauge on his oxygen tank. If it got too low, he wouldn't be able to get back to the surface. A strange blue glow shone under a pile of rocks. Anna, beneath the very spot, saw the yellow light blinking through the rocks. Kris.

"KRIS!" Anna screamed, forgetting. "Gilly, can you reach through that hole right there?"

"I think so," the little girl said. She swam over to the hole and carefully waved her hand. She looked out another crevice and was frightened by Kris in his diving gear. "There's a human out there!"

"It's okay, Gilly. That's my friend Kris I was telling you about. He can help us. You have to get his attention."

Gillyweed stuck her small hand back through the hole waving furiously. Kris saw the small hand waving. He slipped his flashlight into his utility belt and swam over to the pile of rocks. He carefully made the hole bigger so he could see inside.

"Anna! Oh my God, baby. I'm going to get you out," he signed, smiling around his rebreather.

"Get Gilly out first," Anna signed back.

As he moved rocks aside, others shifted and came down. Gillyweed screamed and began to cry. Anna sang to her, Bulda's song to keep her calm while Kris did his best to get them out. With every movement, the precariously piled rubble shifted and threatened to come crashing down. Kris got a hole large enough to get the small merchild out but it would still take time to get Anna out.

"Anna, I'm afraid," Gillyweed said.

"Gilly, swim out of that hole Kris made and find your family. Don't look back. I'll be fine. You find your family. They've got to be out of their minds with worry."

Gillyweed gave Anna a tight hug. "Thank you for saving me Miss Anna. Mama will want to thank you too."

"I'll find you, okay? Go now," Anna said, returning the hug to the small child. "Go."

Gillyweed swam through the hole, still afraid of Kris, and swam away towards the gathering merfolk some distance away. Once Gilly is out of sight, Anna begins to cry. "Kris, I'm trapped. A rock broke my tail. I can't swim."

"Anna, look at me," Kris signed. "I'm here now. I'm going to get you out of there and I'm going to take you home. No one is ever going to take you from me again." He checked his air gauge. He had a little over an hour left of oxygen. He'd have to work quickly to ensure he had enough air to get back to the surface. Without Gillyweed there to give Anna something to focus on, her own situation terrifying her.

Kris worked as fast as he could, while being mindful that everything could come crashing down on Anna if he made the wrong move. Anna tried to push the large rock off her tail but she wasn't strong enough to move the heavy boulder. Kris created an opening large enough that he could pass through without his tank on. He shrugged out of it taking a deep breath before gliding into the cavern where Anna was trapped. He shoved against the rock, trying to get it off his Anna. He had to go back for air a few times before he finally got the rock off her tail. He lifted her into his arms and carefully carried her out and away from the area before going back to his air tank. He took her back into his arms and they swam for the surface. His head barely broke the surface before he ripped his mask off and slammed his lips onto Anna's. He wrapped her in his arms, kissing her like he had been dreaming about for months since she was taken from him.

"Don't ever leave me again," Kris signed, pulling away from Anna for just a moment. "Don't leave me again."

"I'm never letting go of you again. You are my whole world," Anna said, kissing him again. "I love you, Kris."

"And I you, Anna, my love."

The bright light that once came from her tail all those months ago was back. Instead of the searing pain that happened when Hans forced her back to a mermaid, there was no pain only warmth. She looked down at her broken tail and saw it split into two, her long slender legs returning to her.

 


	14. The Most Powerful of All Magic

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 14: The Most Powerful of All Magic

Anna and Kris swam back to the Folly and Anna was nearly knocked back into the ocean by Sven. Anna wasn't sure who was more excited to seem whom, her or him. Kris kept his arms around Anna, not wanting to lose her for even a second. She was naked as anything but Kris had thought of that and dug into his old canvas duffle bag and pulled out the flannel shirt and belt she had worn the first day she was human. He kissed her again, loving having her back in his arms.

There was a rumbling under them and the poor old boat rocked and creaked. Deep below the surface, the sedation that Hans was under was beginning to wear off. His anger of being captured and imprisoned began to boil. All he wanted was what was promised to him as a child and that girl and that stupid human took it all away from him. He fought against the cell and managed to break out, bringing with him his rage and greed. If he couldn't have Odyssey no one could. He made sure of that. Now to rid himself of the reason for his turmoil and anguish once and for all. He rose out of the sea and advanced on the boat. Sven growled and bared his teeth at Hans, ready to defend his master and his love with his own life.

Kris had just about enough of this jackass. Cracking his knuckles he waited for Hans to get close enough. Kris outweighed and towered over the power hungry merman and was prepared to beat the shit out of him if needed. Hans shot out of the water and tackled into the big man, the two wrestling around on the boat, fighting for advantage. Kris giving more blows than he's taking, pounding his heavy fists into the smug face of the once proud and noble merman. Even Sven got in on the action, biting at clawing at the flopping tail of the merman. All the anger and emotional turmoil that he had put Kris through came out in Kris's fists.

Several of the remaining guards and sentries breached the surface in search of the missing usurper. Seeing the scuffle on the  _Folly_ , they swam closer to retake the mad mermaid. His face bruised and bloody from Kris's beating, gasping for breath as he began to dry out, unable to remain out of the water for much longer. Anna, carefully placed her hand on Kris's shoulder staying his hand from doing more damage. The defeated Hans was subdued, chained and taken back to the ruins of Odyssey. Anna watched her brother go and didn't feel the least bit sad by his departure. In the span of four months, he had taken her from the only home she knew, took her from the love of her life. Stole her legs and threatened to murder the man she now stood by. If she never saw him again it would be too soon.

They took him away and he screamed his vows of revenge on the couple. Lord Weaslton stayed above the surface of the water to speak with Anna and Kris.

"Lady Anna," he said with a bow. "My how you've changed."

"But how?"

"Love, my dear girl. Love, the most powerful magic of all," Lord Weaslton said. "It has come to my attention that your human helped save the life of a young child by the name of Gillyweed?"

"Yes, my lord," Anna said, translating for Kris the best she could. "I saved her from the falling rocks and we were trapped. Kris saved us both."

"I am forever in your debt, good sir," Lord Weaslton said, bowing to Kris. "For the child in question is my own flesh and blood, my only grandchild. Whatever you wish, I shall see it done."

Kris had everything he ever wanted right there. Anna, his best friend Sven and the open ocean. Kris began to sign and Anna translated. "Everything I could ever want, I have with me. Anna, that crazy dog and the sea. That's all I want."

"I can restore your hearing, boy," the old merman said. "Allow you the full experience of life."

"With all due respect sir," Kris signed. "I'm not broken." All his life they tried talking Bulda and Captain into getting the cochlear implant for Kris so that his hearing would be "fixed." But as Bulda loudly told all his doctors, "Kris isn't broken. There is nothing to fix."

"Yes boy," Lord Weaslton said. "I am forever in your debt, sir. If there is anything we of Odyssey can do to repay for your heroism, you just need ask."

"Sir, unless you know the finer mechanics of engine repair, there's not much you can do to help me right now."

"How about a tow to the mainland?"

"That I can accept."

Kris and Anna tossed out the ropes to the merpeople who came up to help tow the  _Folly_  to the mainld. Anna got on the radio and found a tug that would help get them into Honolulu and from there get in contact with Marie so she and jack could send them money to get back to Seattle. They got off the boat in Honolulu harbor. The mechanic met them at the dock.

"You managed to get this bucket of bolts and duct tape all the way here from the San Juan Islands?" the mechanic asked, impressed with the  _Folly's_ tenacity. "I can tell you right now, this bucket is not going back to Seattle. Not whole anyway. Best thing you can do is take what you want off it and sell it for scrap. The engine is completely shot, the pumps barely work. There's nothing left to salvage."

Kris nodded, looking lovingly at the old boat.  _Bulda's Folly_  had been as much his home as the cottage on the cove had been. It would be hard to say goodbye to the old girl but he knew he'd have to. He packed up the radio and it's accessories as they were worth more than the whole boat. Anna was on the phone to the hotel that Marie had gotten a room for them. She was getting directions.

* * *

Alone in their room Kris and Anna laid on their bed, the shades drawn, the do not disturb placard hanging from the door. Sven asleep under the desk. Anna laid curled up in Kris's large frame, his warm breath on her neck. His arm was draped over her stomach, clutching tight to her free hand.

"I love you," she said, making the one-handed sign.

He rolled her over so she was facing him. "I want you, Anna."

"I want you too, Kris."

He slowly began to unbutton the flannel shirt, revealing her perfect body. How long had he dreamt of this moment. Seeing her staring up at him with such love and devotion was enough to make his heart burst from his chest. Touch was so important to him, he slowly ran his fingers down her body, kissing her skin softly. His big hands used to hauling in thousand pound nets, was soft and gentle to Anna. She whimpered and bit her lower lip as his gentle hands went lower and lower down her body. His fingers finding her center, parting the tender skin, rubbing slow circles.

Anna moaned softly beneath him as he touched her. Her human emotions taking over. She reached for his shoulders, pulling him down so she could kiss him deeply. Her right hand signing his name over and over. He slipped his fingers into her, kissing her deeply as he prepared her for him. "Anna, look at me. I'll never hurt you. If you want me to stop, shake your head. Okay?"

"I'll be okay, Kris. I trust you, wholly. Please I love you."

He nods, giving her a sly smile. He scoots down her and kisses her belly. His mouth moves lower until it's pressed lightly against her center. Anna grips the sheets in her hands, moaning softly, letting the new sensations over take her. He gently opened her legs and positioned himself. Whispered her name, the only word he's ever spoken more than once.

"Ah-nah," he whispered. He pushed inside her, laying over her, taking her hands in his, moving slowly. He kissed her deeply, relying on her facial expressions to make sure he wasn't hurting her. Anna responded in kind, wrapping her arms around his neck, looking into his brown eyes. "I love you," she signed with one hand.

He picked up his pace, thrusting faster into her, causing her to grip him tighter, burying her face in his chest. He grunts and moans, making more sounds than Anna had ever heard him utter before. He kissed down her chest, swirling around each of her beautiful breasts. He can feel himself getting closer. He wraps her in his arms, pulling her up into his lap, kissing her hard. "AH-NAH!"

She wrapped her arms around his neck tight, riding out his orgasm. He held her tight to him, falling back onto the bed. "I am going to love you forever, Kris."

 


	15. An Impromptu Hawaiian Vacation

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 15: Impromptu Hawaiian Vacation

The threat of her moronic brother was gone and all she wanted to do was go back to Arendelle and spend the rest of her life with Kris. They slept close together, her small body wrapped in his large one. She woke first with the early morning rays of a Hawaiian morning. She disentangled herself from Kris's arms and found her shirtdress and the shoes Marie sent with Kris and leashed up Sven to take him for a morning walk. She left a note for Kris in case he woke up and wondered what happened to the pair.

Marie got them a hotel right on the water. It had to have cost her a pretty penny under such short notice. Kris said he'd be working on the cannery for months to pay her back and to save money for a new boat. He had to have a boat not only for his work but so he and Anna could be out on the water with the humpbacks. She couldn't believe that Rama had appeared and pulled his boat to Hawaii to save her. She released Sven and let the spotted dog chase after some birds. She stood in the surf letting the waves wash over her feet.

"Anna," Elsa's voice called out. "Over here." Elsa waved her over to a small cove.

Anna whistled for Sven and he came bounding over. She re-leashed and walked towards her sister. "Is everything okay?" Anna asked, kneeling on the shore to be eye to eye with her sister.

"Yes, everything's fine. Lord Weaslton said you got your leg's back."

"I did."

"You're never coming back are you?"

"I don't belong in Odyssey, Elsa," Anna said. "I think I knew that even as a child. I've caused you so much trouble."

"I don't want to lose you again, Anna. You're all I have left now that Hans is, well you know."

"I will always be your sister, Elsa. But my heart is here on land with Kris. He is everything to me."

"I can see that. He is very handsome. I wish you all the best this new life has to offer you. Would it be alright if I came to see you in the Northern Waters?"

"Of course. Come in the summer months though. The water isn't much warmer but it's comfortable. You are welcome anytime. Just promise me that he'll never bother us ever again."

"He has been stripped of all his magic and titles," Elsa said. "The Westergard birthright has passed to me, breaking all sorts of ancient traditions. I will be helping to rebuild the city. Hans will never see the light again."

"Good."

"The little girl Gillyweed was asking about you. I told her that you lived on land now as a reward for your heroics during the chaos."

The sun was rising higher in the sky and people were starting to venture to the beach for early morning surfing and to get prime spots on the beach. Kris would be waking up soon and would be looking for her and Sven. Anna looked at her sister, and while she felt affection for her, there wasn't love there. It hadn't been long enough time to really feel love for someone she barely remembered and now barely knew. As much as Anna knew this goodbye wasn't going to be forever, she knew it would be several months before she would see her sister again.

"I have to go, Elsa," Anna said. "I don't know when we're leaving. But I do know that we won't be coming back here for a long time."

"Then I'll come see you. I don't want us to be lost to each other again," Elsa said. "I couldn't take it."

"I understand. Without the  _Folly_  we won't have a way to come back for a long time."

"Then I'll come see you. As often as I can."

The early morning beach goers were starting to arrive. Not wanting to draw attention to themselves or bring out the existence of mermaids, the two sisters bid each other farewell and headed off in opposite directions. Anna and Sven headed back to the hotel just as Kris was waking up.

"Where'd you go?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his face.

"Took Sven out for a morning walk," Anna said, letting the dog jump up on the bed with Kris. She joins them, the dog moving down to the foot of the bed. Kris takes Anna in his arms, holding her tight to him.

"You look sad, love. What's wrong?" he asked, holding her close, her head resting on his bare chest.

"I said goodbye to Elsa," Anna said, a lone tear rolling down her cheek. "We can't stay here and she can't come with us."

"We could stay here if you really want, Anna," Kris said, wiping away her tear. "I can be a fisherman anywhere. We don't have to go back."

"But Marie and Jack?"

"Will get over it. Besides, it's an island. It's not like it's that big of change from Arendelle to Hawaii. Just warmer."

"I can't let you give up the only family you know. Not for mine. I don't belong with them. I belong with you."

"I'm home wherever you are, Anna."

"Have I told you how much I love how you say my name?"

"I love saying it. My Anna."

They had three days in Hawaii before Marie could get them on a plane back to Seattle. They went snorkeling on the reef and much to Anna's surprise her transformation didn't take away her ability to breathe underwater. While they were near people she would wear the appropriate gear but once they were alone she would be herself. That fist night, Marie and Jack arranged for them to attend a traditional luau.

Anna was entranced by the hula performance and was selected to get up and dance with them. After the hula she convinced Kris to get up and dance with her. He was clumsy and nervous, stepping on her feet more times than she could count but Anna didn't mind because she was with him and they were happy. Sven gorged himself on fresh roast pork and salmon steaks. Kids seated around Anna and Kris slipped the dog the fruits and vegetables that they didn't want to eat. By the time they reached the hotel they were exhausted. Sven found his spot under the desk and Kris took Anna in his arms and kissed her deeply.

"I love you, Anna," he said, lifting her shirt off her back. He kissed the hollow of her neck, his hunger for her nearly insatiable. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, holding him tightly. "May I?"

"You may," Anna answered. He lifted her into his arms, carrying her towards their bed. Lying her down gently, he began to kiss up her body starting at her toes. He pulled down her short and pulled off his own shirt before joining his lips with hers. His hardness pressing against her belly. Anna's small hands seeking out the button and zipper of his shorts. He helped her and kneeled over her removing his shorts, joining her in her nakedness. She opened her legs for him, craving the sensations and feelings he had given her the night before.

At her beckoning he entered her swiftly and lovingly. Holding her in his arms, he kissed her deeply and soundly, pouring out his love into her. They rolled over and Anna found herself on top of Kris, his hands traveling up her sides, finding her hands and interlocking his fingers with hers. He pulled her down to him, kissing her and filling her. Anna moaned and cried out as his thrusts into her were faster and more vigorous. She held up her hand, indicating for Kris to slow down. He complied quickly, apologizing for going too far. He sat up, wrapping her in his arms, kissing her cheeks. They came together shortly after, wrapped in each other's loving embrace.

 


	16. Anna's New Job

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 16: Anna's New Job

Anna and Kris had been back in Arendelle for about a week after Hawaii. They fell into a routine. Kris was picked up every morning by Jack for his new job at the cannery/Jack's tugboat service, Sven in tow. Anna was left at the cottage where she deep cleaned the house, freshened up the paint and made it feel more like their home and not just Kris's. She and Marie work together to paint the kitchen and living room.

"Anna, I want to apologize to you," Marie said, while they were cleaning their brushes.

"For what?" Anna asked.

"I wasn't as supportive of you and Kris when you first came into his life as I should have been," Marie said. "I can see now how good you are for him and how much he loves you."

"I bet it was a shock to you to find out the love of Kris's life used to be a mermaid. But I promise you, I have loved Kris since I was a little girl. The first time I saw him, I knew someday I'd be with him. He's the best thing to ever happen to me. I won't do anything to hurt him."

"I know that sweetheart. I'm glad he's found someone who isn't going to try to change him or make him become something he's not. I have something for you." She dried her hands and walked over to her purse, taking out a set of documents. "I had a daughter. She passed away when she was very small, before I ever knew Jack. Kris never knew. So you can be a person here on land, this is her identity. If you and Kris get married this is the name you'll use on the paperwork."  _Kelly Olivia Curtis_.

"Thank you, Marie," Anna said, giving her a tight hug. "Thank you for being so accepting."

So the story circling around the island was that Kris got himself a girlfriend who was beautiful and seemed to be everything to the young man they've all known. Kris was the happiest they had seen him since the day Bulda and Captain bought him Sven. He wasn't as isolated as he was when Captain and Bulda passed on. They went together to the grocery store, out to dinner at the one lone restaurant on the island, walked Sven together on the beach. They took day trips down to Anacortes, the closest larger city to Arendelle.

Anna got a job in Anacortes working at one of the smaller inns near the beach. Kris didn't want her working that far from him but she knew his jobs at the cannery and irking for Jack on the tug wouldn't support the two of them. She had to do her part to support them. It was strange to write Kelly Curtis on her paperwork for her job and trying to explain why she goes by Anna.

"But your name is Kelly," Ginger, the other server at the inn, her direct supervisor said. Ginger was an older woman, not as old as Marie, more motherly than grandmotherly. Anna liked her well enough but found her to be a bit of a gossip and tried to keep her conversations with the woman short.

"Kelly was a really popular name in my grade and to be different, I started going by Anna," Anna said, hoping the story would stick.

"But isn't Anna," Ginger asked, (pronouncing it "Anne-Ah.) "Also super popular?"

"Ah-na wasn't, so I went with that," she said, wiping down one of the trays. The day was almost over and Kris would be arriving on the ferry any moment to bring her home. "And it's stuck. So if you call me Kelly, I won't hear it or answer it. It's not my name anymore."

"Okay. So, who is that young man I always see you with?"

"My Kris," Anna answered. "My boyfriend."

"He's a bit of an odd ducky isn't he."

"Kris isn't odd. He's deaf." Anna glared at the older woman. It annoyed her to no end when people treated Kris poorly. And she wouldn't stand for from anyone. "And don't you dare talk about him like that around me. He's had enough of people talking behind his back and I for one won't let it happen around me."

"I'm sorry Anna," Ginger said. "I won't talk about him unless you bring him up."

"Thank you."

Besides Ginger the Gossip, Anna generally liked everyone she worked with. Lucy and Jill, the younger servers were nice enough but she knew they were all talking about her and Kris behind her back. Then there was Nick Davis, the bartender. Having already dated his way through the servers, housekeepers and front desk girls, he was eager to add Anna to the list. Nick had gone to school with Kris and had been on the receiving end of several beatings from Kris for just being a self-righteous asshole.

"So Anna," Nick said, sliding in too close to her during her lunch break, about a month or so after she started working at the inn. "How about you and I go have dinner somewhere tonight?"

"No thank you, Nick," Anna said, scooting away. "I can't miss my ferry home."

"I don't see how you can stand to live on Arendelle," Nick said, dropping his arm behind Anna. "I'd go out of my mind with boredom."

"Only boring people get bored, Nicky," Ginger said, coming by. "Besides Anna's in a relationship."

"Yeah with that big dummy," Nick said. Anna let out a heavy breath. "I went to school with that guy. All the teachers bent over backward for him. I don't know what you see in that jerk. What's he got that I don't have?"

"A giant cock," Anna said, trying to keep her anger intact.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Nick scoffed. "Seriously, we should go out. You can stay at my place so you don't have to go back to that shithole known as Arendelle and that idiot Kris Bjorgman."

Now, Anna in her human form is five-foot three inches tall and is lucky if she weighs in at over a hundred and ten pounds. Nick, while not as tall as Kris (who is over six feet tall) and weighs much less (Kris who is all muscle from years of rowing in choppy seas and working on fishing boats) is still quite larger than Anna. In a split second, Nick Davis was on the ground and Anna was shaking her hand, tears stinging. She was sure she broke her hand.

"Bitch!" Nick yelled. "You know what, never mind. You and that retarded oaf can have each other."

Word spread quickly throughout the inn that the new girl gave Nick Davis a black eye. The story grew to the point that not only had Anna knocked him out, but broke several bones and other outrageous things that couldn't possibly have happened. And when Nick complained to management about what happened, playing himself off as the victim and not the instigator, Ginger came through and said exactly what Nick said about Anna and her boyfriend. Nick was fired, muc to the relief of most of the female staff.

When Anna told Kris what happened that evening on their ferry ride home, he was first pissed that Nick was harassing her then he was grinning that his darling Anna had knocked his former bully to the ground. He took her in his arms and kissed her deeply.

"You never cease to surprise me, Beautiful Anna."

 


	17. A Very Important Question

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 17: A Very Important Question

Spring was here and with it, Kris's twenty-seventh birthday. For the first time in his adult life he had someone special to share his birthday with. His first birthday with Captain and Bulda had been a special one because it was his first one with a family of his own. But this birthday was the first without Captain and Bulda. And the first with Anna. It was a bittersweet day. Jack, Marie, Kris and Anna took Jack and Marie's boat into Seattle for the weekend. They stayed at the Edgewater Hotel.

Before they left Kris went over to Marie's. He needed something from her that his mother had left with her for safekeeping. He was shifty and nervous when he came over for lunch. Anna was at work. It was the perfect time to ask.

"Where's Mom's ring?" Kris asked, not beating around the bush.

"What ring?" Marie asked, a smile growing on her face.

"You know what ring, Marie," Kris said, his eyes hard. "Mom's engagement ring. The one she said I could have when I found the girl I was going to marry."

"Oh that one. I think she was buried with it."

Kris's face fell. He didn't have the extra money to go out and buy Anna a ring. He was counting on his mother's ring to give to her. His plans to propose to her that weekend was going to have to be postponed. He looked down at his lunch, the disappointment clear on his face. He doesn't notice Marie leave the kitchen and come back. She set the small burgundy velvet box in front of him.

"Bulda was my best friend and I am so glad to be able to do this for her," Marie said. "I'm sure she would love Anna. Captain too."

"Thank you," Kris said, opening the small box. A white gold antique ring rests in the folds of white satin. A small diamond set in the center of the ring, not quite a carat but still brilliant. She would love it. He closed the box and slipped it into his jacket pocket. Part one of his proposal plan was well in hand. Next he had to practice what he was going to say. And by say he means to use his voice to ask Anna to be his wife.

For the next several days, he would run the water in the bathroom whenever Anna was home to hide what he was doing. He formed the words and hoped they sounded right. He practiced every chance he got because for her, everything had to be perfect. Because she was perfect to him and he had to be perfect for her.

Jack, Marie, Kris and Anna took Jack and Marie's boat into Seattle. It was a lovely if not windy ride through the sound. They docked in Seattle Harbor and took a cab over to the Edgewater Hotel. Kris and Anna went into their room at the hotel to get settled before their dinner at the Space Needle. Anna had never been into Seattle, even as a mermaid. There was too high a chance she'd be spotted and taken for research so she stayed far away. It was odd for them to have left Sven at home. With everyone with Kris, he didn't need Sven to be his ears.

Anna opened the garment bag she had packed for them and took out the suit Marie made Kris bring, even though he would have preferred to wear a nice pair of pants and a simple shirt. But because she knew what he was planning, she made sure he would look his best. Anna bought a beautiful purple and green dress with the tips she made at the inn to wear for his birthday dinner. The dress stopped at mid calf, was made of shimmery purple and green chiffon and twirled perfectly when she spun. All her life she had wanted a dress that spun and twirled. She had seen one once as a little girl spying on a wedding on the beach, a girl about her age was wearing a dress that billowed and spun in the wind and she wanted to have one just like it. Now she did. She put her hair up in bun and braids, tucking a ribbons into the bun.

"You look beautiful," Kris said, cupping her face in his big hands. "I love you."

"I love you more," Anna said, with a smile. "Come on. Jack and Marie are waiting."

* * *

After dinner at the Space Needle, Marie and Jack retired early, as you know they're old, leaving Anna and Kris to their own devices. They walked along the waterfront, finally coming to a stop at an alcove near the aquarium. It was dark now and the only lights came from the buildings along the waterfront and the ferris wheel. The ring was in the inside pocket of his jacket, now draped over Anna who had gotten cold. His blonde hair rustling in the wind. He took her hands in his and looked at her with such love in his eyes.

"Anna," he began, signing. "I love you more than life itself. I would go to the ends of the earth for you and I have. You have made me the happiest I have ever been and I have something I want to ask you." He dropped down to one knee, looking at her straight on. He cleared his throat and began again, this time using his voice. "Anna, will you…"

Anna placed two fingers to Kris's lips to stop him. "No. Not like this. I don't want to hear you ask me. You're perfect just the way you are. I don't need to hear you say the words. Show me."

"My Anna, marry me? Please?"

"My Kris, I will. I will. I will. I will."

He points to the jacket and she reaches into the pocket, taking out the box. She opens it and smiles.

"It was Mom's ring. I know she'd be honored that you're wearing it. I love you Anna. I love more than I ever thought possible."

"I love you too, Kris. We'll be together forever. I promise."

 


	18. Anna and Kris, Lonely No More

**The Silence of the Storm**

Chapter 18: Kris and Anna Bjorgman, Not Alone Anymore

It wasn't a fancy wedding by any means. Just them, Jack, Marie Sven, and Elsa on the beach in front of the cottage. Anna wore a dress she made herself with a wreath of flowers in her hair. Her dress was pink and flowing. They stood in the surf as the tide was coming in and the twilight was fading. Elsa treaded water in the cove, watching her sister marry the man of her dreams. While the sisters weren't close, it was still important to Anna that Elsa be there. They sent a message via Marshmallow to the newly reconstructed city of Odyssey letting Elsa know when the wedding would take place and that they wanted her there.

Just as the sun was going down, Anna appeared on the porch of the house. The pink dress blowing about her legs by the winds of the sea. She wore her long red hair down in loose curls, a wreath of flowers sat on her head, serving as her crown. She carried a bouquet of pink roses Marie had bought for her that morning. Jack offered his arm to Anna and walked with her down the steps of the cottage and to the surf where Kris had his back to the house. The justice of the peace waited for Anna and Jack to get closer to them before he tapped Kris on the arm to turn around and see his bride. A lone tear escaped from his eye as Kris saw Anna for the first time in her dress. He held out his hand to her and she happily took it. Jack took his spot next to Kris and Marie was next to Anna. Elsa in the water smiled proudly. How she longed that her parents and brother could be here to see this. The brother who somehow let power corrupt his heart and was now locked in the deepest caverns of the ocean, never to hurt another soul.

The service was silent, the only sound was the waves crashing against the shore. The justice was well versed in sign and agreed to have the ceremony all in sign. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join Kelly -"

Anna shook her head and said out loud, "Anna. I go by Anna."

"Yes dear," the justice said. "Excuse me, to join Anna and Kristoff in wedded bliss. These two remarkable young people have found love through extraordinary means. A love like that deserves all the happiness we can give it. Anna, do you take this man to be lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish till death do you part?"

"I do. I do. I do," Anna said, not taking her eyes off of Kris for a second.  _I love you._

"And Kristoff, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

"I do," Kris said, cupping Anna's face with his hand. "With all my heart."

"By the power vested in me by the State of Washington, I do hereby pronounce you husband and wife, you may - oh I see - you're already, well carry on."

Kris and Anna crashed together, their love showing. Out in the sound a trio of whales were breaching. Anna turned to show Kris that Kali, Rama and Taani were back together. They smiled and stared out at the horizon of the sea. Less than a year ago they were two very lonely people. Now they had each other and that was going to be enough. For now. Sven laid between them, eyeballing the cake waiting for the happy pair when they were ready.

 


End file.
